For a Buck I Might
by Morning Glory Conlon
Summary: From the person who didn't bring you 10 Things I Hate About You, or Taming the Shrew, she brings you a story about an angry girl and a dollar bet! Shoe forced me to write this. It is my first in four years. Be kind!
1. Make a bet

**For a Buck I Might**

Cards flew threw the air as they were tossed back down to the table, and groans of many dissatisfied newsies rose above the noise of chattering that filled the bunkroom. Race removed the cigar from his mouth cradling it between his two fingers, with one quick swipe the coins, buttons, marbles, and various other objects were in front of him.

"Well I am out." Jack tossed in the towel. It was obvious to him and probably a couple others that Race had been cheating, but there was not a need to call him out on it.

Skittery slammed his palm against the table; he had just lost all of his money for the next three days in the damn poker game with Race. He leaned back in his chair letting out a heavy sigh, contemplating what to do next.

Race rested his cigar on the table as he shuffled the cards a couple of times as he looked up at the guys, "Any one still in?" He inquired looking mainly over at Mush; he was the only one who had not called it quits yet.

Mush removed a couple coins from his pocket; it was bread from the nuns tomorrow. Maybe he could split it in half and save some for lunch. Race had almost cleaned him out, "Nah, I've grown to like sleepin' indoors."

"So, now what boys?" Race placed the cards in the center of the table and picked up his cigar once more, he was not ready to end the night.

Jack's mouth was partly open to form words when a storm blew into the bunkroom catching his eye. Olivia was like a tornado; she took out who ever was in her way without a care. Most of the newsies had suffered her wrath at one point or another. Slamming into Kid Blink, and it clearly being fault, she spat, "Watch where you're going!" Liv gave Blink an extra shove as she made it over to her bunk. People always said that Skittery was in a grumpy mood, but Olivia, she always seemed to be in a permanent bad mood, worse than him sometimes. If there ever was a newsie who did not have many friends, this person would be Olivia. No one knew much about her past, only because no one wanted to attempt to talk to her. Olivia's temper flared often earning her a nickname Livid Livia. Often she blew up at people for no reason at all.

"One more game, I need the money." Skittery finally gave into Race. He needed to win his money back for papers and rent tomorrow. He was about to add no cheating to Race, but Jack cut him off.

"I've gotta betta idea." Jack leaned closer towards the table, resting his elbow on the table edge. Olivia was a pain in Jack's side, so why not just mess around a bit with her.

Skittery sighed deeply; this was the last time he ever played cards with this lousy lot. All he wanted to do was win back some money, but Jack had to go and have an idea. _This ought to be interesting,_ he thought to himself as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back waiting on Jack's profound idea.

Race followed Jack's gaze over to the girl sitting on the bunk he had somewhat of an idea of where this was going to go. Jack looked back at Mush, Skittery, and Race, "I dare one of ya to go talk to her." Jack sounded like he was a child daring one of the other boys to go up and talk to the girl, who just might have cooties.

Mush glanced quickly at Olivia making sure that she did not see him looking over that way. He got up to leave, if one thing he knew, it was that he was not going to feed him self to the lioness.

"How about we place a bet on it?" Race promptly added to what Jack suggested.

Mush shook his head, "Nah, not for me." He picked up what small winnings he had and headed over towards his bunk.

Skittery leaned forwards, this peaked his interest a little. Now that there was a bet placed on it, "How much?"


	2. Cigarette

For a Buck I Might

The Cigarette

Jack was a bit surprised that Skittery would even show interest in something like this. He glanced over at the angry girl sitting her bunk, "I'll pay your rent tomorrow."

Skittery followed Jack's gaze over to Olivia, was his life worth tomorrow's rent, "I dunno." He said maybe he could get the deal sweetened a bit.

"I'll buy you half yer papes tomorrow." Race was a betting man. Plus he wanted to see what would happen, "But on one condition you gotta have a full conversation with the girl."

"If you can't ya gotta buy us lunch tomorrow." Jack smirked; hey he was a hungry boy.

Skittery continued to look over at Olivia as they listed the conditions of the bet. He did not see why everyone was afraid of her. She was human like the rest of them, just a human with a really bad attitude. People respected Spot for the same type of attitude, he bossed people around and no one said anything. Skittery was sure there had to be something decent inside of that girl. Upon thinking about it further Skittery was sure he could get her to talk to him. Race had cleaned him out during the game; if he could get some one to buy him half his papers for tomorrow then he would be okay, "Alright." Skittery turned back towards the guys finally.

"Alright?" This surprised Jack even further. He spit in his hand and held it out to Skittery. Doing the same as Jack, Race and Skittery sealed the deal.

"All for a buck." Skittery whispered under his breath. Race stood up at the same time as Skittery, "Where are you going?" He questioned making a face, "Don't wanna see yourself lose this bet?"

"I'm going to get the bandages an' some ice." Race snorted as he walked over to the washroom.

Skittery frowned when Race said that, but he pushed it to the back of his mind walking over to Olivia's bunk. He was not exactly sure what he was going to say to her, but all he knew was that he just needed to talk to her, "Hey." He stood a few steps from her bunk. _Hey_ that was all he could come up with, the best he could come up with? So it was not much of a conversation starter, but at least it was a start.

Olivia raised her head from what she was doing and looked at Skittery. What did he want? She waited for a minute for him to say something else, but there was nothing. Liv shifted on her bunk a little, her body tensed. It was not every day some one actually came over to talk to her. Obviously he had to want something; it was not like him to make small chat with her.

Jack and Race snickered in the background as they sat at the card table watching the 'conversation' between the two. Skittery shot a glance of his shoulder at the two clowns at the table telling them to shut up. He looked back over at Olivia, "I..uh…" Damn it he had nothing to say to her. She had been a newsie too long to pretend he cared where she came from, and he did not know enough about her to ask her go out with out it seeming suspicious, "was wondering if you had a cigarette I could borrow?" He cursed himself that was the best he could come up with. Skittery had seen her smoking before; that was almost the only thing he knew about her.

Without saying anything to him Olivia handed Skittery an extra cigarette. She studied the boy for a few seconds before releasing the cigarette to him. Liv had seen Skittery around before; she had probably knocked into him before, "You don't have to return it." She commented before she looked back down at what she had been doing before Skittery interrupted.

Well that was the end of that conversation, or lack of. Skittery knew he had lost the bet, and it had not even taken more than five minutes to do. Opening his mouth once more to say something, he accepted defeat, "Thanks." He tapped the cigarette against his side sliding it between his fingers. When Olivia did not look back up at him, or say anything more he finally walked away.

Jack and Race were still sitting at the table laughing their heads off. Skittery shot daggers at the two of them. He shoved Race's shoulder as he walked by knocking him out of the chair and onto the floor; the two of them instantly stop laughing. Skittery headed over to the window, he mine as well smoke the cigarette now that he had it. Skittery made plans to find Itey later and bum some money off of him to be able to buy his papers.


	3. Double or Nothing

For a Buck I Might

Double or Nothing

"Another chance?" Jack felt his stomach grumbling as he spoke with Skittery. All he wanted was lunch that was the only reason he came back to the lodging house to find Skittery. But now Jack was figuring that a little entertainment before lunch could be interesting.

"Double or nothing." Skittery decided to add a little sugar to the bet.

Racetrack smirked hearing Skittery up the bet as he walked in, "I could go for some dinner as well as lunch."

"Alright, double or nothing," Jack gave Skittery a serious look, but he figured he would make it a little harder on Skittery, "but, you gotta get her to smile or laugh now."

"Yeah an' not laugh at you." Race added in his two cents. It was one thing to make some one laugh, but it was another thing to have someone laughing at you.

"Fine, I'll even get her to go to lunch with me." The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them. Why the hell had he added that into the deal? He was screwed for sure. He had not been able to get Olivia to talk to him last night, but now he had to get her to go to lunch with him. Race and Jack walked over to Jack's bunk to watch without being in the line of fire.

With a heavy sigh, because that was what Skittery seemed to be good at, he leaned back against the bunk post where Olivia was sitting. Olivia was good at something as well, she continued on ignoring the messy haired boy who was trying so hard to gain her attention. She did not understand it, Skittery never paid any attention to her, and he did not even look twice in her direction. The last time the two of them had ever had any type of interaction Olivia was sure she was shoving him out of her way. Now he was trying to talk to her. Olivia had though after the attempt last night he would have gotten the idea she was not interested in making friends with him.

Skittery glanced down at Olivia, _still ignoring me_, he thought to himself. Giving a quick shove off of the bunk causing it to move slightly, Skittery walked over and picked up a Clementine that had been sitting on the table. Tilting his head back, Skittery place the Clementine on his forehead between his eyes, balancing it carefully. His arms were out to his side, eyes cross-eyed so he could see if it moved. Maybe he could get her to laugh, or crack a smile. It was a cheesy ploy that would be great if it worked.

If Olivia could roll her eyes any further back into her head then she could now, she probably would of. Shaking her head she looked at him like he was crazy, at the same time Skittery's side ways glance caught her eyes. A small cheesy grin crossed his lips.

Dropping her shoulders heavily, her strong will was slowly giving into the clown before her, "What is wrong with you?"

Skittery brought his head back up and caught the Clementine in his left hand, "What wrong with me? I could ask you the same question."

"Well…let's see you are grumpy and annoying most of the time." Olivia began listing off things that were wrong with Skittery.

"Ain't you a funny one?" He spoke sarcastically as he scowled at her. She always had a way of turning his words around on him, "No wonder you don't have many friends."

Now Skittery finally had Olivia's full attention, "Just because I don't waste my time with fools like you don't mean I don't have any friends." She snapped angrily at him. Olivia rose from her spot on the bunk, reacting quickly afraid that she might hit him Skittery backed up a step or two.

"Why are you always so defensive?" Skittery inquired ignoring the statement that came out of her mouth. People often said things out of anger, and Skittery assumed most of what Olivia said came from anger.

"I'm not." Olivia narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"There ya go again, being all defensive an' stuff…if you don't know by now I'm not gonna hurt ya, than ya ain't as smart as I thought." Skittery spoke honestly and calmly. Then he remembered that he had only started talking to her was because he needed a quick buck.

"You and every other guy." Olivia's forehead wrinkled. What was he playing at?, "I don't have time for this." She brushed past him accidentally knocking the Clementine from his hand. It hit the ground with a soft thud and rolled a few feet after her. Liv quickly pushed the window to the fire escape open and climbed out.

What did Olivia not have time for? She was just going to go out there and smoke a cigarette, speaking of a waste of time. Skittery knew he had struck a cord with her, only because she went out to smoke when she was nervous or something was bothering her. Why did he notice that stuff? He did not even like this girl! Something about her intrigued him though, making it hard for him just to go back to ignoring her, "Pff, women." After standing there for a few moments Skittery decided that he should probably go apologize, well maybe not apologize exactly.

Race and Jack sniggered over in the corner. Skittery frowned at the two of them, "I'm not giving up yet." He snapped at them. There was no way he was going to owe them both lunch and dinner.

Skittery leaned out of the window seeing her sitting there on the fire escape smoking a cigarette, "I only wanna be your friend." Skittery kept looking up at her, but she did not look at him, "Every one needs a friend, some one to laugh with. I ain't never seen you laugh, or smile…do you even know how to?" He had not meant to be mean in any way.

Olivia took in a deep drag from her cigarette, and then let it out slowly, "Of course I know how!" She insisted, it had just been awhile, "Just my face muscles ain't used to that much work." Liv gave a small nod as if it made it official. For the first time in a long time Skittery's comment made her feel lonely.

Skittery smiled at what Olivia had just said about smiling. He leaned against the window a bit more watching her. Honestly she did not seem that bad to him, obviously she had her reasons for being the way she was, "Well I'd offer a cheesy line about how you have a pretty smile and it looks good on ya, but I've never seen ya smile before."

Olivia gave a half hearted smirk and shook her head some, "And does that actually work for you?"

"I've got some good lines." Skittery said cockily.

"Oh yeah?" Olivia challenged him.

"Did the sun come out or did you just smile at me?" Skittery looked up at her with a questioning look. That was one of his better lines, well at least he thought. Skittery was beginning to wonder why this conversation had not happened last night.

Olivia smirked a bit more trying her hardest not to laugh, "Not bad."

"Not bad?!" Skittery pretended to be shocked holding a hand to his heart, "That is some good stuff there."

Liv smiled a bit more at his little dramatic act, "Well if it works for you." She put out her cigarette dropping it down to the alley way below.

Skittery felt his stomach rumble loudly as he stood there, "Guess I'm hungrier than I thought." Casting a glance up at Skittery he said finally, "I'm going to Tibby's wanna come?" Olivia was a bit surprised at his invitation to go to Tibby's with him. No one had ever asked her to go anywhere with them. Liv looked at him skeptically for a moment, "Come on, it ain't gonna kill ya ta have lunch with someone."

"Uh…" Olivia opened her mouth; her first instinct was to turn him down. Liv had to confess to herself that she was getting a little tired of being alone. Maybe, just maybe to try to get to know one person would not hurt. Besides he had just said that he would never hurt her, and Liv was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, "Alright." She stood up.

Skittery leaned in the window before Olivia climbed back in and gave the two boys a triumphant smile, "Olivia and I are headed to Tibby's." He announced. Inwards he was relived to not have to buy those two bums food today after last night's poker game.

Race and Jack both groaned as they lost their bet. The two of them waited for Skittery and Olivia before heading out the door. Jack was curious as to what Skittery had said to Olivia to get her to go with him to lunch. With that the four of them walked out of the lodging house and to Tibby's.


	4. Is it Enough?

**Is that enough?**  
By: Morning Glory

The lodging house had become less of a war zone over the last couple of days. It was not Olivia verses the rest of the lodging house. Yes she was still her grumpy pessimistic self a lot, but she was not threatening people with her fists any more, just her words. It had been almost a week and a half since the first bet had been made. Little by little Skittery and Olivia began talking more, and then they began selling together. It was a little strange for all the other newsies who were used to seeing Skittery shoot his mouth off, and Olivia close it for him.

Wiping a bit of blood from her lip Olivia walked back to the lodging house quickly. Though over the last couple of days Livia had been selling with Skittery, today she did not. Race, Skittery, and Jack had gone over to Brooklyn the night before for a poker game. The three had come back later in the morning, they picked up their papers in Brooklyn and sold as they walked back. What had happened today? Well Morris thought it would be cute to mouth off to her. Making comments about how she had gone soft and he was not afraid of her. After Olivia had gotten her papers she wanted for the goon outside of the distribution office and soaked him.

Morris had gotten lucky today, he had managed to get in a hit or two, leaving Olivia with a bruised cheek and a bloody lip. She headed inside and up to the bunkroom, no one was back from selling yet. Which in her opinion was good, she would not have to hear people think they were being quiet while they talked about her. Olivia went into the washroom and ran a cloth under the cool water, then lightly dabbed at her cheek and lip. Well it could have been worse.

The murmuring of voices could be heard coming up the stairs to the bunkroom. Livia wrinkled her forehead some wondering who it could be, it was still too early for anyone to be back. The voices soon became clearer now; they belong to none other than the gambling Italian and the Santa Fe Cowboy.

Jack laughed, "I doubt he'll win this bet." He said to Race as they entered the bunkroom, "Do you really think that Olivia is gonna go out with him? The two of them couldn't stand each other a week ago. He even lost that first bet."

"Yeah, but the odds are in his favor." Race removed his cigar from his mouth as he spoke, "They've been talking a lot lately, ever see them out on the fire escape late at night?" He walked over dropping the cigar into the tin can beside his bunk.

"Yeah, but that don' mean nothin'. I talk to a lot of goils out on fire escapes an' nothing happens." Jack took off his cowboy hat hanging it on the post of his bunk before climbing up onto it. He was exhausted from the poker game.

Olivia drew in a swift breath listening to what the boys were saying, she could feel the anger rising, her blood was boiling. Everything had been lies and deceit. Her teeth clenched tightly creating a sharp pain in her face at the sites of her injuries. It all came together now, why Skittery had been so insistent on being her friend that day, why he wanted to talk to her all of the sudden. Olivia could feel a tingling behind her eyes as the tears slowly began to line her eyes, she could not remember the last time she had cried, the last time she had been hurt so badly.

With one swipe she dried her eyes. Never, never again would this happen. She had been right in believing that she needed no one. If you never got close to any one then there would never be any hurt. The discussion has stopped in the bunkroom. Olivia tossed the bloody rag into the sink. Looking through the partially opened door of the washroom Olivia spotted Jack asleep on his bunk and Race doing the same on his own bunk. It took everything in her power not to shout at those two, to keep her fists from connecting with their faces.

Not stopping Olivia darted out of the washroom, crossing the bunkroom. She needed a cigarette and needed to calm down. She jumped down the last of the stairs to the lobby walking outside. Leaning against the wall she lit a cigarette.

Worn-out and ready for a nap, Skittery went back to the lodging house. He had looked for Olivia when he had gotten back to Manhattan, but had not been able to find her. After his failed attempt Skitts had finished up selling and decided to go back to the lodging house, maybe Olivia would be there, but once more he had been wrong. Skittery was in a great mood for the first time in a while. Selling had gone amazingly well today. He finally felt as if things were starting to go his way. It had been awhile since Skittery had fancied any girl, he was not sure what it was about Olivia, but he really did like her. There maybe were some deeper feelings for her, but Skittery was not sure if he should act on these feelings. It had taken a lot of work just to gain Olivia's trust. Skittery placed his hands behind his head closing his eyes feeling the gentle afternoon breeze sweep across the bunkroom.

"That's all I am?!" Olivia was livid with Skittery now. Her hands clenched into tight fists pinned down to her sides. It was like a summer storm that rolls in, not a single cloud in the sky, but then suddenly out of nowhere the clouds roll in and the thunder cracks, "Everything you said and everything you did…was just for a lousy bet?"

Skittery's eyes shot open when he heard Olivia shouting, she was shouting at him! She knew. She knew all about the bet he had made with Jack and Race. But how did she find out? He could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment. Skittery wondered how much she actually knew, did she know just about the first bet? The night she completely blew him off. Did she know about the second attempt the next day just to get out of paying for the two bums lunches? Skittery prayed, for the first time in a long time to god, that Olivia did not know about the last bet that had been made. Skittery had needed the money, but now when he looked back at it, it had not been a smart idea to take those two up on their stupid idea for a bet.

Olivia turned quickly and Skittery flinched. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. What could he say? He had screwed up in a big way; no one should ever have their emotions and feelings played with. Especially not her, not now that he really knew Liv. He was sure if he said something she would deck him.

"Here's a buck," Olivia grabbed his hand and placed the money it, shoving his hand back at him. Her eyes were full of hurt; Skittery could see that through the tough exterior, "Is that enough to make you leave me alone? I don't ever want to talk to you or see you again." Her tone was low and cold, not the same as the days before. With that said and not waiting to hear what Skittery had to say Olivia exited the bunkroom.

Her last words cut like a knife; it was unfortunate that he knew she meant what she said. Skittery stood there dumbfounded. Everything had blown up so quickly that Skittery did not even get a chance to say anything. He felt lost and empty, he felt alone. The one girl he had gotten to know and allowed him close to her he lost. The bunkroom was eerily silent now as the cool spring breeze swept across the bunkroom.

The End

Note: I haven't reread this chapter or had some one else check it for mistakes. It may not be the best chapter, but I tried. This is the end. Maybe I'll write another story about the two later.


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